Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude

It’s a beautiful day and Larry, the stud, is strutting down the walkway in campus. He is the B.M.O.C. Just as a demon-like dean appears and is about to expel Larry for doing some rather nasty little things, like have sex in the classroom, a giant safe comes down from the heavens to crush the dean.

Larry looks up, appreciatively, and thanks God. He is rewarded with a big thumbs-up from the heavens. Then two “babes” materialize and start asking where Larry wants to “do it.”

The campus is stunned to silence. “How about right here?” Larry asks, and the campus goes wild with delight.

But alas, it was all a dream. The actuality is that Larry is somewhat of a non-babe magnet. But hope looms on the horizon … err, on the television.

“Are you a loser?” asks the gleaming-toothed spokesman on the commercial. Swingles, the televised dating service is coming to the campus, and Larry – the nephew of the infamous Leisure Suit legend Larry Laffer – needs to make it on the show. But first he has to make it on campus.

The game begins with Larry, the nephew patrolling the halls, and meeting Sally Mae, the country girl. As he begins to talk with her, you are treated to a mini-game, one in which a little sperm-like object is moving across the screen. Avoid the hazards and you get to move on to the next mini-game, which is to mix up a “panty-peeling” drink for her.

Sierra and High Voltage Software have teamed up for this PlayStation 2. There is nothing implied about this title, it is all there, upfront and in the open. From the wet t-shirt contests to the openly suggestive dialogue, Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude is a sex-filled game that will certainly draw the ire of anyone who adheres to the politically correct-way of thinking. The game is likely to have a very small target audience as well – say 18- to 19-year-old freshman male college students who have lived a sheltered life and are away from home for the first time, and have had too much to drink before slumping in front of the console system.

This is a game, though, that will require a clear head and quick reflexes. Some of the games will require players to react quickly to a rapid “hit the corresponding hotkey button” game. Early on, Larry has to mix that drink and does so by hitting 30 of 35 hotkeys right as they flash on the screen. The entire game may last 10-15 seconds.

Each mini-game has ulterior motives in regards to what Larry will accomplish, and each is scored. If you win, you advance in the game. If you lose the mini-game, it’s basically game over, try again.

The sound of this game, and the graphics are solid. The game features that campy musical score that Leisure Suit fans have come to know and tolerate, while the three-dimensional look of the game does well for the type of game this is.

Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude will not have a broad (no pun intended) market. Expect this game to have at least a teen and likely a mature rating.